A PUBLIC spirited pensioner who took it on herself to clear a field of killer weeds has been told she must pay £25 to have them removed.

Eileen Eastham, who lives on Milton Close in Darwen, spent hours pulling up and bagging the ragwort from an empty field behind her house.

She filled five large bags with the yellow flowering weed, which is deadly poisonous to horses, and contacted the council, who said they would happily collect the bags -- at a cost.

Eileen, 67, said: "I couldn't believe it. I've been public spirited enough to clear the ragwort and they can't even pick up the bags. I've done three-quarters of the field but I can't do any more. I'm no spring chicken."

The field has been empty for sixteen years and is often used by horse riders. Two fields run either side of it where horses are stabled.

Eileen said: "You need to get the ragwort up now before it germinates. If it's left it will spread to the adjacent fields. I can't burn it because it's still green but if you leave the weeds to dry out you might as well not bother to pick them."

Earlier this month patrols of weed removers from the Highways Agency cleared road and motorway verges to destroy the ragwort. A council spokesman said: "The current rate for removal of garden refuse is £25 including VAT for up to five items of a reasonable size.

"Anyone can use the household waste sites at George Street West, Blackburn, or Spring Vale Road, Darwen, to dispose of garden refuge for free."

Eileen added: "This stuff needs to be incinerated and even if I take it to the tip, I don't know that it will be.

"Next year I am just going to let it grow and if the horses die then I'm very sorry."